Her Return
by Yentruoc
Summary: My version of the season 6 premiere, yes, another Buffy comes back to life story


Title: Her Return (if you have an idea for a better name, please send it!) Author: Yentruoc Disclaimer: All of the characters and stuff belong to Joss, although the story line's mine. Rating: PG13ish Feedback: I'll beg if I have to! PLEASE!! Author's Notes: This is my idea for the season six premiere. This is only a first part of the story, but the next part of the story's going to give you a choice of two parts. I was originally going to make it just B/R, but decided on giving you a choice between B/R or B/A. Have fun reading!  
  
The two new Oracles paced back and forth as they continued their conversation. "It was not her time," the female Oracle stated as she continued to walk. Both Oracles looked very similar to the last ones, there were small differences in their facial features and the female's hair was kept down, but the rest was basically the same.  
  
"She made it her time," the male Oracle replied, "She chose to take the place of the one she calls her sister."  
  
"For that she is proven noble," the female Oracle argued.  
  
"For that she is proven no more noble than lower beings that take their own lives," the male Oracle responded.  
  
"You are wrong. For years she has served the Powers, asking for nothing in return. Now she gives her life so that one other being can live, she is not a lower being. She is being far higher than any that we have known of."  
  
"She is gone. We cannot change that without the consent of the Powers," the male gave in.  
  
**  
  
Willow, Xander, Anya, and Spike crept as quietly as they could through the cemetery. Since Buffy's death the four had taken over slaying for her, with some help from Dawn and Tara, and a lot of help from Giles. Dawn had also gone through a lot more since Buffy passed away. As if losing both her mother and sister hadn't been enough, her custody should have been granted to her father. Fortunately for her, though, Hank was nowhere to be found and temporary custody was eventually given to Giles. She still lived in her mother's house, and either Giles or one of the Scooby's would be with her at all times. It was hard and she was scared, but she knew that she had to go on. She had to live, just like Buffy had told her to, she wouldn't let her sister down.  
  
A twig snapped in the bush nearby and all four of them paused, Spike pulling a stake out from his duster pocket and held it just as the other three did. He took a few steps forward and pulled a branch out of the way to see what was there. "Spike! Watch out!" Willow yelled, but she was only seconds late. A vampire burst from the bushes, pushing Spike down hard onto the ground.  
  
"Um, a little help here!" Spike growled from underneath the figure of the large vampire. Xander went in to help while Willow just got an "Oh!" look on her face. Xander leaned down and grabbed the vamp's shoulders, trying his best to pull him off Spike, but what he got instead was a hard punch in the face. Xander stumbled backward from the force of the blow, and the huge vampire removed himself from the struggling Spike, only to center his attention on Xander.  
  
"Uh, oh," Xander muttered, his hand still on his sore jaw, as the vamp advanced on him. Willow and Anya both rushed towards the vamp, stake in hands, neither really sure of exactly what to do. This vampire seemed much stronger than the others that they have faced; yet still they risked it, refusing to lose another friend.  
  
"Get away from him you big ugly monster!" Anya yelled as she hopped onto the vampire's back and began to slap him with all her might. After the months of practice, Anya still wasn't to quick on the whole use the stake thing. She preferred attempting to pound them into the ground with her bare hands first. The vampire was thrown by her unexpected weight for just enough time to allow the now-standing Spike to stake him right through the heart. The vamp exploded into dust, dropping Anya onto the ground with a thud. "Ow!" she exclaimed as her butt hit the ground hard. Xander immediately was at his fiancé's side taking her hands and helping her off the ground.  
  
"Is it just me, or are the vamps around here getting stronger?" Willow asked, still a little shocked with their encounter.  
  
"I think they are. Giles time?" Anya asked as she clung tightly onto Xander's arm. The others nodded and they started off in the direction of the Magic Box.  
  
"Man, I wish Buffy was here," Xander said as they continued to walk.  
  
**  
  
The female Oracle opened her eyes to look into those of the male of her kind. "Have they answered our request?" he questioned.  
  
"They agreed, we shall bring the slayer here," the female Oracle replied. The male Oracle nodded, and Buffy appeared before them. She wore exactly what she had worn the day of her death, although in reality it was about two months later. Buffy looked around, clearly confused of her surroundings.  
  
"Okay, um. Where the hell am I?" she asked to the two Oracles, as she had never met either of them.  
  
"We are the Oracles and this is our dimension that you've entered. We've brought you here, we have news for you," the female Oracle explained.  
  
"Why? And where was I? I don't remember anything after jumping into the portal. The pain." Buffy's voice cut off and tears came to her eyes.  
  
"You have left your life, warrior. Moved on," the male replied.  
  
"You mean I did die? How long ago was it?"  
  
"Two of your dimension's months," the female answered, "But we have not brought you here to tell you that. You have a choice in front of you, warrior. A choice of life or death." Buffy said nothing, she just stared at the two Oracles in disbelief.  
  
**  
  
"Cordelia, are you sure that he'll be all right," Wesley questioned, his concern was very clear in his voice.  
  
"No, I'm not sure. We just have to think positive, right. I mean, the love of Angel's very long life is dead. But it's not like he could ever really see her, right?" Cordelia asked hopefully.  
  
"For some reason I don't think that that would stop my depression," Gunn replied as he walked up behind them holding a large hardcover book in his hand.  
  
"Precisely my point. Angel has been in a world of depression since Willow brought him the unfortunate news. I don't think he's even slept a wink," Wesley said.  
  
"Hey, I'm just trying to be helpful here," Cordelia offended herself.  
  
"You want to be helpful, find some way to get this blonde alive again, or something. Maybe then we can get the old Angel back," Gunn said rather harshly. Cordelia looked offended, but kept quite. Buffy's death had definitely put an edge of everybody. She knew that arguing wouldn't help, and she also knew that Gunn was right.  
  
**  
  
"So you're saying that the vampires are getting stronger?" Giles questioned as he paced in his store.  
  
"Well, there was one stronger vampire," Anya offered from her place around the table next to Xander.  
  
"So one strong vampire and you come running for help?" Giles asked.  
  
"Well, not so much running. More so jogging," Xander answered with his usual humor, which seemed less spunky and more sad.  
  
"Look, I know that Buffy's.death has had us all hurt and wound up. But we must focus on the vampires and demons in general. If we don't.we'll end up in the very same position that she is in right now."  
  
"We're sorry. We've just never had to do this stuff without Buffy. Now that she's gone. we just miss her a lot," Willow apologized as her eyes filled up with tears. She took a breath, trying to compose herself. "Well, I should probably head over to Buf-Dawn's. Tara's still there with her, and I told her that I wouldn't be long." Giles nodded and Willow got up from her seat along with the others, and they exited together. Giles just stared after them, missing Buffy like a father would miss his daughter.  
  
**  
  
"Life and death-but you said that I was already dead," Buffy questioned.  
  
"Yes, but that can be changed," the male Oracle explained.  
  
"You mean that you can bring me back to life?" Buffy asked, hopefully.  
  
The female Oracle nodded, before speaking. "It was not your time. You may return to your life, but with conditions."  
  
"Conditions? What conditions?"  
  
"You have served us for many years, warrior. For this you are given a chance to return to your life and duty," the male Oracle replied.  
  
"If you chose life, you will be responsible for training the new slayer," the female finished.  
  
"But if I'm alive.why would they need another slayer?"  
  
"You have proven yourself worthy for a reward that no other slayer or warrior has received," said the male.  
  
"Reward?"  
  
"You must train the new slayer until she is ready, while continuing your duty as the current slayer. Once she has learned to use her ability, you will be relieved," the female explained to her.  
  
"Relieved? You mean I'll lose my powers?"  
  
"You're powers cannot be removed," the male answered, "You will not hold the responsibility of your world. That will belong to our new warrior."  
  
"You may also chose to be completely relieved of your duty. You will spend the rest of eternity in heaven," the female Oracle continued for the male.  
  
"I want to go back. I mean, how hard can training a slayer be? And I.I want to live. A normal life is something that I never thought that I'd be able to have. But I'm already dead. How would that work?" Buffy first answered, then questioned.  
  
"The memory of your death will be erased from all minds but those who hold your most precious secret," the male replied.  
  
"You shall be sent back, and all traces of your death shall be removed from your world. Two months of your life have passed, you shall remember nothing from them, only your death and this day," said the female Oracle.  
  
"When will you send me back?" Buffy asked curiously.  
  
"At the point at which breaks night and day," the male answered her.  
  
"Night and day.you mean midnight?"  
  
"Yes, tonight," the female said.  
  
"You said that you're doing this because it wasn't my time. Was it.was it Dawn's?"  
  
"Yes warrior," the male said.  
  
"Wait.will she die if I go back?"  
  
"No, she shall be spared," the female replied.  
  
"Then I'm sure. I want to go back," Buffy finalized as she looked at the two Oracles. They both nodded, and all that Buffy could think about was that she was finally going to have a normal life.  
  
**  
  
Angel sat down onto his large bed, and reached for one of the drawers in his night table. He pulled it open to reveal a drawer full of pictures of Buffy and small collections and memories from over the time that they had spent together. There was a ticket at the top of a box; it was from the movie that he had taken Buffy to a little over two years ago. He thought back to around that time, particularly to the time that she had come to his mansion after they had patrolled. She had said that she should have a drawer at his place. He had been to afraid to tell her that he had kept a drawer filled with pictures of her, things that once belonged to her, and such since they had first started going out. Angel reached for a leather folder in the drawer pulled it out, and opened it. It was full of sketches that he himself had drawn of her. There was her smiling with her friends, sitting on the arm of the chair that he himself was sitting on, memories from their first night together, sketches of photographs he had of her, and several sketchers of what he had imagined she would look like in the sun. He pulled out a small stack of drawings of her from the forgotten day. There was them kissing in the sunlight, sitting awkwardly in the kitchen, and also many other sketches of that one day together. After paging through that pile, he pulled out another, this one in a frame, as it obviously meant a lot to him. It was one of few that he had drawn with her actually there, rather than using memories, or thoughts. He remembered nervously asking her permission, and she had answered with a simple nod and a shy smile. Angel had sketched Buffy right after they had made love for the first time, and before they had fallen asleep in each other's arms. It was as if part of Angel had known that they wouldn't have another chance together, that he needed to both savor and capture their night together. Even as Angelus he had treasured this sketch, kept it close to him in its special frame. After he returned to Angel, he'd look at the sketch every day, trying to remember exactly what he had felt in that moment.  
  
Angel sighed and tears rolled down his cheeks. He couldn't believe that she was gone, and part of him regretted letting his humanity go. If she was going to die anyway.what was the use? He knew that he could have made her happy until it was her time, and she wouldn't have had to be put through all the pain that Riley caused her. They'd be happy for the short time that they had together. Angel also wouldn't have to live for eternity missing her, only a lifetime, which seemed short to him, as he had lived through many. Angel reached back into the folder and this time took out about five or so sheets of blank white paper. He then opened the top drawer and took out a piece of charcoal. In his small bedroom, Angel began to draw the woman he loved as tears fell freely from his eyes.  
  
**  
  
Xander, Anya, Willow, Tara, and Dawn were scattered across the living room of what was now Dawn's house. Xander sat on the couch, and Anya was lying down covered in a blanket, on it with him, her head on his lap. Dawn was curled up in the chair, also covered in a blanket, and both witches lied on their stomachs, facing the TV with their heads propped up with their hands and arms, they shared a blanket. Although only one or two of them usually stayed with Dawn (or sometimes Giles), they all thought that Dawn needed a little bit more cheering up, so they called a slumber party. Xander picked up some movies and chips while the girls waited for him back at Dawn's. They talked about boys, did each other's make up, and tried everything that they could think of to cheer poor Dawn up. When Xander returned with a few comedy movies (not wanting to upset Dawn with anything that would make her think even more than usual about the death of both her mother and sister), they had all curled up and started watching. Now, on their third movie of the night, they found Anya getting more restless, and although Dawn laughed a little every once in a while, she wasn't really happy. Not that any of them expected Dawn to be really happy, after everything that happened. They just hoped that she would be able to go on, that she could see something that reminded her of either her sister or mother and not burst into tears. All of them knew that it would take a while, but they'd all be there for Dawn, no matter what.  
  
Willow turned her head to look back at Dawn. She was still curled up in the chair, but at the moment wasn't paying much attention to the TV. Dawn looked in the direction of the TV, but Willow could see through it. The sad look in her eyes told Willow that she was thinking, again, about Joyce and Buffy. With all of her heart, Willow wished that she could take the pain away from Dawn for even just a few minutes. Although she had found a spell to get rid of her pain for a while, Tara had convinced her not to use it. She told her that it would just cause Dawn more pain and guilt when she realized that she had forgotten and gotten over her mom and Buffy's deaths. Willow turned back to the TV and focussed on the small clock on the VCR, the clock turned from 11:59 to 12:00, midnight.  
  
**  
  
The moonlight hung down on the large tower as well as the unconscious figure of a young blonde woman. Buffy opened her eyes and stood up slowly. She looked around the dark area, recognizing it as the very tower where Glory had held Dawn and they had battled, what she was told was two months ago. Remembering the fight, Buffy looked down at herself for cuts and scrapes from the fight. She found none, and found herself wearing the same clothing that she had during the battle. Buffy took one more look around, then found herself heading towards her house, hoping that Dawn and maybe some of the others would be there.  
  
**  
  
A large bus rounded the corner of a street in Sunnydale, before pausing at the stop. The bus doors opened and out stepped a girl of about fifteen years. She had dirty blonde hair that just passed her shoulders, green eyes, and was wearing a pair of dark slightly flared blue jeans and a plain pink sweater. She held a small suitcase in her right hand, and a baby blue backpack was slung over her left shoulder. The girl took the last step off the bus, and stood on the sidewalk as the bus doors closed and it drove off. She sighed and put her suitcase down for a second, as she looked to both her left and right, as if deciding which way to go. The girl pushed her hair back behind her shoulder, picked up her suitcase, and headed off in the direction of her left.  
  
**  
  
Angel still sat on his bed, still sketching Buffy. A small pile of new sketches lay next to him on his left, while his leather folder, with the framed sketch on the top of it. Angel suddenly looked up at the sound of a soft knock on his door. "Come in," he answered softly. Cordelia opened the door and quietly slid into Angel's room.  
  
"Hey! I thought you could use a nice cup of steaming hot coffee. Oh, and don't worry, I didn't make it, Wesley did," she said as cheerfully. Angel looked back up at her from his paper, and he could tell that she was trying to pass at least a little bit of that cheer to him. Needless to say, it wouldn't work. "You okay? We're all really worried about you. I know that you loved Buffy and all that, but, Angel, you've got to move on."  
  
"I've been having these weird feelings," Angel said softly.  
  
"I know, you miss her butt-"  
  
"No, it's not that. I mean, it's there. It's always there, but it's not that," Angel cut her off.  
  
"What is it then?" Cordelia asked, obviously concerned.  
  
"Buffy's back. I don't know when.but I can just feel it. I felt it when she died, and I can feel that she's here," Angel explained, a little dazed. Cordelia just stared at him, very confused by his explanation.  
  
**  
  
Buffy walked the last few steps up to the door of her house, or what was her house before she died. She had no idea if Dawn had kept the house or not, but she had decided that she should probably try. Buffy inhaled deeply before bringing up one shaky hand to knock on the door. She felt weird knocking, it being her house and all, but still not sure if Dawn was still there, she knocked.  
  
**  
  
Willow, Dawn, Xander, Tara, and Anya all turned at the sound of a knock on the door. "That's weird. A little late for visitors, isn't it?" Willow said as she looked at the others.  
  
"Maybe it's Giles," Dawn suggested sleepily from her spot on the chair.  
  
"I'll get it," Willow replied happily as she nodded and rose from the floor. She didn't even bother pulling anything over top of her pajamas, as she figured that it was just Giles, as she walked to the door. The other four just stayed in their spots in the living room, all of their eyes fixed on the TV. Willow unlocked, then reached for the door handle and pulled it open, and gasped at who she saw standing there. "Buffy." she said in amazement.  
  
"Hey, Will," Buffy replied nervously, as her best friend just stared at her in complete shock.  
  
TBC 


End file.
